Refrigerator cabinet safety door



Sept. 8, 1959 K. K. KESLING REFRIGERATOR CABINET SAFETY DOOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 11., 1957 INVENTOR HIS ATTORZ: Y

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Sept. 8, 1959 K. K. KESLING REFRIGERATOR CABINET SAFETY DOOR Filed July 11, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 K217)! A. Kesiir; BY g United States Patent REFRIGERATOR CABINET SAFETY DOOR Keith K. Kesling, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Application July 11, 1957, Serial No. 671,338

6 Claims. (Cl. 109-635) This invention relates to refrigerators and particularly to a door safety device therefor.

Considerable work has been done to provide safety latches on doors pivotally mounted on household refrigerators which permit a child, upon accidentally or mischievously becoming trapped in a compartment or chamber of a refrigerator cabinet, to merely push on the door from within the cabinet to open same in order to escape therefrom. This of course is unquestionably worthy of merit but many such latches do not solve all the problems encountered in safeguarding a child trapped in a refrigerator cabinet against death. For example a child may extricate himself or herself, upon being entrapped in a refrigerator cabinet, with substantially little effort as long' as the cabinet is in its normal upright position and the door can be easily swung open. However, the door on present day refrigerator cabinets is large and so heavy that a child is unable to lift or swing the door away from abutment with a cabinet when the cabinet is discarded or abandoned and dumped in a junk yard or dumping grounds on its side or on its back. Thus the release of a refrigerator cabinet door latch by a child entrapped in the cabinet does not insure movement of the door away mechanical type latch whereby a child upon becoming I trapped in a refrigerator cabinet while the same is in use or as long as it is in a free-standing upright position, so as to permit the cabinet door to be swung open, can extricate himself or herself from the cabinet and also provide additional precautionary means whereby should the cabinet be discarded or dumped and supported on its side or on its back a child upon becoming entrapped therein will not be suffocated.

In carrying out the foregoing primary object it is another object of my invention to provide a refrigerator cabinet with a safety device that will prevent latching of the refrigerator door tightly closed against the cabinet by blocking the door open, when the cabinet is supported in a position other than its normal upright position, at least a sufficient distance to permit a young child or a small feeble child, as compared to an older or larger vigorous and stronger child, upon being trapped in a compartment of the cabinet, to breathe freely so as not to be suffocated,

whereby the trapped child is enabled to utter sounds or cries for help that may be heard for some distance away from the cabinet in which the child is entrapped.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front view of a refrigerator cabinet having my invention embodied therein;

Figure 2 is an enlarged broken fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 showing the refrigerator cabinet door held in closed position;

Figure 3 is a broken view illustrating the refrigerator cabinet disclosed in Figure l discarded and supported on its back with a portion thereof in section showing the door blocked open; and

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 3 showing the arrangement of the door blocking means and construction of a portion of the cabinet.

Referring to the drawings, for illustrating my invention in connection with the description which follows, reference numeral 10 generally designates a household refrigerator cabinet member having a plurality of insulated walls forming a food storage compartment therein and designated by the dotted lines 11. The food compartment 11 is provided with a forwardly facing access opening normally closed by an insulated door structure or member 12 which may be of any suitable or conventional construction. Door member 12 is pivotally mounted on cabinet 14 for horizontal swinging movement relative thereto by a pair of hinges 9. As best shown in Figure 4 of the drawings cabinet member 10 includes an outer shell 13 having an inturned flange 14 at its front edge and an inner metal liner 15, forming walls of the food compartment 11, spaced from shell 13 with any suitable or desirable but preferably packaged or wrapped insulating material 16 disposed between the shell and liner. The inturned part or flange 14 of shell 13 forms a flat face or shoulder portion at the front of the insulated wall portions of cabinet 10 which is adapted to be engaged or abutted by a bulbular sealing portion of a resilient gasket 17 secured to door member 12 and extending therearound. A resilient non-metallic or molded plastic breaker strip 18 is snapped or wedged in place between an integral extension 19 of flange 14 and a bent portion of the front edge of liner 15 to form the throat or collar portion of the food compartment access opening. 'A metal reinforcing or stiffening channel 21 is provided behind the llanged front portion of shell 13. A plurality of trim strip mounting brackets 22 are attached to and extend outwardly along the front edge or face of the insulated cabinet walls for supporting a door edge guard or trim strip 23. The brackets 22 are in vertically spaced apart sections or lengths of about four to six inches long and are secured in place by means of self-tapping screws or the like 24 which pass through shell 13 into channel 21. Brackets 22 serve to removably support the substantially U-shaped in cross section decorative or trim strips 23. The trim strips are preferably made of light-weight plated and polished metal and overlie a heavier U-shaped channel 26 which provides a rigid backing therefor and prevents deformation thereof upon being struck by objects. The legs of both channels 26 and trim strips 23 are sprung outwardly away from one another and then snapped over the spaced apart brackets 22 and may be further secured thereto by spaced apart self-tapping metal screws 27 which pass therethrough and are threaded into the brackets 22. The cabinet 10 thus includes a unitary insulated wall structure and non-insulated hollow wall portions projecting forwardly thereof one side of which is substantially flush with the outer surface of sides of the cabinet member. The other or inner side of the forwardly projecting hollow wall portions are spaced from the front opening of food compartment 11 and provide a recess in the forward face of cabinet 10. At least a portion of door member 12 is disposed in this cabinet recess and a handle 28 is stationarily secured to the door, in any suitable or desirable manner, so as to be swingable therewith but immovable with respect thereto. A striker part 29 of a latch is bolted or otherwise rigidly secured upon door 12. The projecting end of striker 29 is flat and is substantially diamond shaped to provide two sets or upper and lower opposed inclined surfaces thereon which engage and spread roller-like keepers of the latch apart and with which the keepers frictionally interlock. A movable mechanism or part of the latch is mounted in a U-shapcd in cross section latch casing 25 located in one of the upright non-insulated hollow wall projections, intermediate spaced brackets 22, and is concealed by a trim strip 23 with the bight portion of the casing rigidly secured by screws or the like (not shown) to the reinforcing channel 21 at the location represented by the dotted lines in Figure 1 of the drawings and generally indicated by the reference numeral 30 thereon. The door latch is a low- .pressure friction mechanical spring biased type preferably of the construction illustrated and fully described in the copending application of Orson V. Saunders S.N. 654,790 filed April 24, 1957, now Patent No. 2,869,952 entitled Door Latch and assigned to the assignee of the present application. Reference to this copending application is made so that a clear understanding of the function and operation of the latch disclosed may be had without necessitating a detailed description thereof herein. The latch mechanism indicated at 30 includes upper and lower pivotally mounted spring pressed opposed roller keepers 31 (see Figures 2 and 3) on the cabinet member which engage opposite sides of the flat diamond shaped end of striker 29 on door 12 and interlocks therewith to hold the door shut against the cabinet upon swinging the door .to closed position. Trim strip 23 and its backing channel 26 are provided with registering openings in their forward face (see Figures 2, 3 and 4) and the striker 29 normally enters the latch casing by way of the reentry aperture 32 provided by these openings and is tripped by the keepers 31 to frictionally interlock these latch parts together. The

employment of a latch of the type referred to in the foregoing identified copending application permits the interlock between the striker 29 and keepers 31 to be easily broken and the door 12 swung open, about hinges 9, by pulling on door handle 28 from exteriorly of cabinet 10 and/or by applying a small force to the door from interiorly of food compartment 11. In other words the latch is devoid of a handle which requires manual operation or movement relative to the door to unlatch same prior to opening the door and the ease of breaking an interlock between the keeper mechanism and the striker of the latch renders the door openable by a child so long as the cabinet is free-standing or is supported in an upright position. However as hereinbefore pointed out present day refrigerator cabinet doors are large and heavy due to racks and compartment forming elements being mounted thereon or incorporated in the inner liner thereof. Thus in the case of discarding a refrigerator cabinet and dumping same so that it comes to rest on a side or on its back the problem of a child becoming trapped therein and unable to lift or swing the door is present and the hazard of a child being suffocated in an abandoned refrigerator still exists even though provision has been made to permit an entrapped child to extricate himself or herself as long as the refrigerator cabinet remains in an upright position. It is therefore necessary to provide an additional precautionary means to safeguard against such an incident.

In accordance with my invention I provide the refrigerator cabinet 10 with an auxiliary safety device or blocking means which prevents a refrigerator cabinet door from being latched shut or closed tightly against the cabinet particularly when the cabinet is discarded and supported on its back. This device includes or comprises a slidable metal blocking means 45 separate from and independent of the door latch. The metal blocking means 45 has a flat portion disposed between the ends of the legs of latch casing 25 at the open side thereof and is provided with flanged sides 46 which fit between the latch casing 25 and trim strip backing channel 26 to slidably mount same within the outwardly projecting hollow trim wall portion of cabinet 10. Blocking means 45 is provided .4 with a cut-out portion 47 normally registering or aligning with the reentry aperture 32, provicled by the openings in trim 23 and channel 26, to permit striker 29 to enter the latch mechanism and be interlocked with the keepers 31. The lower portion of blocker 45 is bent as at 48 and receives, in a hole provided therein, an upper end of a small rod, shaft or feeler element 49. Shaft 49 passes through metal brackets 51 secured to cabinet 10 which hold the same in place and serve as guides therefor. A coil spring 52 surrounds shaft or feeler element 49 with its one end bearing against a. bracket 51 and its other end bearing against a washer 53 mounted upon and secured to the shaft by a cotter pin or the like 54. The shaft 49 extends from blocker 45 downwardly within the forwardly projecting hollow wall portion of cabinet 10, on the latch side of the cabinet, and its lower or feeler end projects from this portion of the refrigerator cabinet and engages with or abuts against and rests on a support or the floor of a room or the like in which the refrigerator is installed. As long as the refrigerator cabinet 10 is in a free-standing or upright position on its support the lower end of rod or shaft 49 engages the support or floor to hold the blocking means 45 up in the position thereof as shown in Figure 2 of the drawings and to compress spring 52. In this position the cut out 47 in blocker 45 is aligned with the latch striker reentry aperture 32 to permit the striker 29 to enter casing 25 and be engaged by and interlocked with the latch keepers 31 so that door member 12 may be swung open or closed and for latching or holding the door closed against cabinet 10 to cause gasket 17 to substantially seal the access opening of food storage compartment 11. At this time the interlock between the striker 29 and keepers 31 of the low pressure frictional mechanical latch can be easily broken and door 12 swung open by pulling on the door and/ or by pushing on the door from interiorly of compartment 11 as more fully explained in the copending application hereinbefore referred to.

Should the refrigerator cabinet 10 herein disclosed be moved, discarded or abandoned and thrown or tossed on a dump in a junk yard or the like so as to come to rest on its side or back or be sup-ported in an upright position on other than a continuous flat solid or rigid support the lower feeler end of rod or shaft 49 will be shifted, by compression spring 52, outwardly beyond the lowermost portion of the cabinet. This consequently also shifts or slides the blocker 45 which is loosely supported between backing channel 26 and the end of legs of the latch casing 25 and guided thereby during its sliding movement. If the door 12 of cabinet 10 is left shut at this time the shifting of rod or shaft 49 will be restricted by the top wall part of the cut out portion47 in blocking means 45 engaging the latch striker 29. However upon a subsequent opening of cabinet door 12 spring 52 will cause a further or automatic shifting of rod or shaft 49 outwardly beyond the bottom of cabinet 10 and additional sliding of blocker 45 (see Figure 3) since the latch striker will have been swung out of the sliding path of this blocking means. The upper portion of blocker 45'will now move or be shifted into the reentry aperture 32 provided on the cabinet wall for striker 29 to substantially close same (see Figures 3 and 4). If a child has playfully entered or been mischievously forced or placed into compartment 11 of cabinet 10, when the door 12 was opened, and an attempt is made by another child or other children to close the door latch striker 29 will engage the blocking means 45 positioned intermediate the striker 29 and latch keepers 31. Latch striker 29 cannot now enter reentry aperture 32 or the latch casing 25 and door 12 is thereby blocked open in an ajar position and prevented from being swung into tight abutment with or against cabinet 10 whereby compartment 11 is vented or exposed to air ambient the refrigerator cabinet. The entrapped child, if unable or not possessed with sufiicient strength to raise the cabinet door 12, may

breathe freely to obviate danger of being suffocated and can cry out for assistance and other persons maybe summoned to extricate the child from compartment 11.

From the foregoing it should be apparent that I have provided an improved safety arrangement for a refrigerator cabinet wherein the door thereof can be easily swung open while the cabinet is in an upright position and used to preserve food products and/ or for automatically blocking the door in an open position in response to discarding or abandoning and supporting the cabinet in a position other than its normal upright position. My improved combination in addition to better satisfying users of re frigerator cabinets, by eliminating the necessity of manipulating a latch handle in order to open the refrigerator cabinet door, also provides a structure which meets various requirements of laws or ordinances pertaining to equipping a refrigerator with means for preventing suffocation of a child who may become entrapped therein.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, as may come within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In combination, a refrigerator cabinet member normally supported in an upright position having a compartment therein provided with an access opening and a hingedly mounted door member adapted to abut portions of said cabinet member for closing said compart ment access opening, a low pressure friction type latch holding said door member shut against said cabinet member upon swinging the door member into closed position, said latch being unlatchable While said cabinet member is in its said upright supported position to open said door member by pulling thereon from exteriorly of said cabinet member and/ or by applying a force to said door member from interiorly of said compartment, said latch including a striker on one of said members and a'keeper in the other of said members inwardly of a striker reentry aperture provided in a wall thereof, a mechanically actuated door blocker separate from said latch and shiftable independently thereof into and out of the reentry aperture in said other member to form a rigid abutment thereat adapted to be engaged by said striker for preventing latching of the keeper therewith, means connected to and extending from said blocker rendered effective by supporting said cabinet in its said normal upright position for holding said blocker away from the reentry aperture whereby said door member is latchable to said cabinet member, said means including a spring compressed by supporting the cabinet in its said normal upright position, said cabinet being movable out of its normal upright position and supportable in another position dilferent therefrom in which shifting of said means is not obstructed, and said spring automatically moving said shiftable means in response to movement of said cabinet member into said another position for shifting said blocker into the reentry aperture to cause said striker, upon swinging said door toward said cabinet, to engage the rigid abutment provided by said blocker and block the door member open in an ajar position with respect to said cabinet member.

2. The combination defined by claim 1 wherein the latch striker is carried by the door member and the striker reentry aperture and the latch keeper are on the cabinet member.

3. In combination, a refrigerator cabinet member normally supported in an upright position having a com partment therein provided with an access opening and a hingedly mounted door member adapted to abut portions of said cabinet member for closing said compartment access opening, a latch holding said door member shut against said cabinet member upon swinging the door member into closed position, said latch including a striker on one of said members and a spring biased keeper in the other of said members inwardly of a striker reentry aperture provided in a wall thereof, said striker being movable, upon swinging said door closed, through said reentry aperture into interlocking engagement with said keeper, the spring biased interlock between said striker and said keeper being breakable while said cabinet member is in its said upright supported position to open said door member by pulling thereon from exteriorly of said cabinet member and/or by applying a force to said door member from interiorly of said compartment, a mechanically actuated door blocker separate from said latch and shiftable independently thereof into and out of the reentry aperture for substantially closing same and forminga rigid abutment thereat adapted to be engaged by said striker for preventing the striker from entering the aperture and interlocking with said keeper, means con nected to and extending from said blocker rendered effective by supporting said cabinet in its said normal upright position for holding said blocker out of the reentry aperture whereby said striker enters same and is interlockable with said keeper to latch the door to said cabinet, said means including a spring compressed by supporting the cabinet in its said normal upright position, said cabinet being movable out of its normal upright position and supportable in another position different therefrom in which shifting of said means is not obstructed, and said spring automatically moving said shiftable means in response to movement of said cabinet member into said another position for shifting said blocker into the reentry aperture to cause said striker, upon swinging said door toward said cabinet, to engage the rigid abutment provided by said blocker and block the door member open in an ajar position with respect to said cabinet member.

4. The combination defined by claim 3 wherein the latch striker is carried by the door member and the striker reentry aperture and the latch keeper are on the cabinet member.

5. In combination, a refrigerator cabinet member having a compartment therein provided with an access opening and a hingedly mounted door member for closing said compartment access opening, said cabinet member being normally supported in an upright position on a support, a latch holding said door member shut against said cabinet member upon swinging the door member into closed position, said latch including a striker on one of said members and a keeper on the other of said members, a mechanically actuated door blocker separate from said latch and shiftable independently thereof into a rigid position between said striker and said keeper whereby to be engaged by the striker for preventing latching thereof with said keeper, a spring biased feeler element connected to said blocker and having a part thereof projecting from said cabinet into engagement with said support therefor to maintain said blocker in a position in which said striker can latch with said keeper while said cabinet member is supported in its said normal up right position on said support, said cabinet being movable out of its normal upright position and supportable in another position different therefrom in which movement of said spring biased feeler element is not obstructed, and said feeler element automatically moving said blocker in response to movement of said cabinet member into said another supportable position whereby the blocker is shifted into said rigid position between said striker and said keeper, upon opening said door, to block the door member open in an ajar position with respect to said cabinet member.

6. In combination, a refrigerator cabinet member normally supported in an upright position on a support and having a compartment therein provided with an access opening and a hingedly mounted door member adapted to abut portions of said cabinet member for closing said compartment access opening, a low pressure friction type latch holding said door member shut against said cabinet member upon swinging the door member into closed position, said latch being unlatchable while said cabinet member is in its said upright supported position to open said door memberrby pulling thereon from exten'orly of said cabinet member and/or by applying a force to said door member from interiorly of said. compartment, said latch including a striker .on one of said members and a keeper in the .other of said members inwardly of a striker reentry aperture provided in a wall thereof, .a mechanicallyactuated door blocker separate fromsaid latch and shiftable independently thereof into the reentry aperture :and forming a rigid abutment thereat adapted to be engaged by said striker to prevent latching of said door member to said cabinet member, a spring biased feeler element connected to said blocker and having a .part thereof projecting from said cabinet into engagement with said support for holding said blocker away from the reentry aperture whereby said door is latchable to said cabinet'while same is supported in its said normal upright position on .said support, said cabinet being movable out of its normal upright position and supportable in another position different therefrom in which movement of said spring biased feeler element is not obstructed,

the door member open in an ajar position with respect :toisaid cabinet member.

9 References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,097,154 Wright May 19, 1914 2,467,815 Curtiss Apr. 19, 1949 2,733,576 Knock Feb. 7, 1956 2,783,722 Fletcher Mar. 5, 1957 2,790,665 Vanderveld .Apr. 30, 195.7 2,790,666 Vanderveld Apr. 30, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS 730,043 Great Britain May 18, 1955 

